WSJ: iPhone 8 To Ditch Lightning Connector in Favour of USB-C

Apple has been aggressively pushing USB-C ports on its MacBook lineup. So much so, the company did not include one regular sized USB port on its 2016 MacBook Pro lineup. Now, a report from The Wall Street Journal claims that Apple will ditch the Lightning connector in favour of a USB-C port on the iPhone 8 as well.

This is the first time that we are hearing Apple ditching its own Lightning connector in favour of a USB-C port on the iPhone 8. Apple did launch the Lightning connector with the iPhone 5 back in 2012. Back then, one of the key advantages of the connector was that it was reversible in nature.

If Apple does end up switching to the USB-C port with the next iPhone, it would greatly speed up the overall adoption of the standard in the industry. All major flagship Android devices — bring the Galaxy S7 — have already made the switch to USB-C last year. The transition would also mean that existing iPhone accessories that make use of the Lighting connector will no longer be compatible with the new iPhone without using a converter. As things stand right now, it is not possible to connect an iPhone to one of Apple’s latest MacBook without using a converter as well.

Apple ditched the 3.5mm jack with the iPhone 7 last year and instead promoted its own Lightning connector for music output. This led to a bunch of headphones and earphones being released in the market with a Lightning port. Now, if Apple ends up ditching Lightning port in favor of USB-C again, all those Lighting headphones would end up having a fairly small lifecycle.

The report reiterates that Apple will be launching at least one variant of the iPhone 8 using a curved OLED screen. The panels will initially be supplied by Samsung, though Apple has asked its other suppliers to look into making OLED displays as well.

The way things are shaping up right now, the iPhone 8 is going to come with a brand new design and feature set, but some of the functionality will be limited to the new premium OLED model that Apple will be launching this year.

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